The great thing about Zizek is that even satires of him make sense, in that his dialectics follow a rational pattern even mimicry of him assists in making his point.
Only rust red and thin veins of gold cap the mountains-
This morning, I heard the syncopation of a tree letting go of it's final tiny hands-
The weight of heavy down is shield enough against gloom-
The very breath of the Earth is ferment now, roots into roots-
I crave spice, artificial heat, edible furnaces.
All life is clockwork, yet there is no universal agreement
What time it really is.
All I know is that autumn has arched the pinnacle,
An almanac page loosed from its binding,
And we flutter now into the nurturing dark and chill
Again, one with the province of stars, again,
Left to calculate our place and pace in the passing night.
What senses record your history?
What undiscovered dimensions of feeling are the dutiful scribes of your name?
I tremble before the venerable and exact chronology of mountains,
Of the iron in my blood and the exultant push skyward
Of mere ruddy leaves, southward flocks,
And the coming still nights.
"I was born in the civil rights time. To see this happening is unbelievable. We've got the first black president. A black president!" said Mike Louis, a 53-year-old black man who got teary-eyed as he watched the election results on a giant video board in Cincinnati's Fountain Square. "It's not cured now, but this is a step to curing this country of racism. This is a big, giant step toward getting this country together."
The roar of thousands of people gathered in a plaza near the legendary Apollo Theater in New York City's Harlem neighborhood could be heard blocks away.
The buzz word has been transformational... well, yes, this election has transformed the notion of opportunity in America. More importantly, however, it has elevated for for the first time the potential of an individual to rise against the greatest odds, to eclipse doubt to inherit a fertile field of possibility. The chances have been overcome, the fear has been overcome, and we, finally, have overcome. We have boldly fulfilled the promises borne on the back of slaves, and made real the whimsies of dreamers who said that that some day the whole idea of leadership will be transformed.
Something big has happened tonight, I will never forget it, especially for the sake of my Godson, his disabled mother, this wounded Earth, and the thusfar unrealized hope of all that has been disenfranchised and unrealized.
I am proud, finally, to call Barack Obama my President.
Life has changed, and always will. It's the thankful litany of the ages that ours is an incarnation as variable as the autumn leaves, as random and resplendent as the stones along the shoreline. For this, I of course offer gratitude, but for that changing life, I must also offer concern.
Ours is a world that has been overwhelmed by the weight of its own divisions, a world that is collapsing under the strain of wars, disparity, and entrenched idealism. While beauty abounds and potential runs as freely as starlings, there is a very tenuous grip on the future here, and it's straining, and the gravity of millenia of carelessness is pulling us down. Each of us, from ivory towers to the shanties of the poorest slums suffers.
This year, I was asked to take on a responsibility that has transformed my idle minutes into measures of necessity. I was asked to be a Godfather, and beyond. For years I've been against the grindstone for children who've been cast off by a society too drenched in judgment and obligations of artifice to give the powerful mercies needed to help them recover from the suffering inflicted by the grand scale selfishness of society, abuse, and poverty. Suddenly, all of my efforts were contextualized into the needs of a child frequently disdained, labeled, written-off. Suddenly, I was asked eclipse the work-a-day world and be a champion for a soul whose merits were overlooked because of his challenges. I cannot imagine a better thing to say yes to, and a greater cause. I cannot imagine a greater challenge, and a better reason to fight for a future which is ambiguous at best, fearsome at least, prosperous at most.
I now have, finally, something greater than myself to fight for, to die for if need be. I never took the future of America as seriously as I do now, and never have with as much fire in my belly screamed aloud for change as I have in the past weeks. For this reason, for the sake of my responsibility which I view as sacred and as necessary as my next breath, I implore that all Americans take the time to look around them and undertake action which honors and magnifies their own responsibility. I implore you, my homeland, to seek out the greatness of your own callings and do what is required to grant a just and peaceful legacy to those who will follow us into histories yet unwritten. We have been too long negated, exploited, and like my Godson, written off. We have been mere pawns in a sickening political game, which does not honor the soul and the justification of a nation. The birthright bestowed upon us by our ancestors has been sold to high bidders and profiteers, and I don't believe freedom was a virtue intended to be commoditized and traded like cattle.
I believe that freedom was a virtue intended to be improved upon by successive generations, perfected, and practiced. This child who calls me Dad reflects a deep abiding wisdom when he says "it doesn't make sense that we make a big deal about hate speech but our institutions are themselves hateful." Can we not aspire to the words of children, and cease our nationally ignorant contrariness?
I believe that, in some form, we can at least begin that great work by using the best of our remaining democratic opportunities and elect Barack Obama the next President of the United States. Since I was young, I've always watched politics as a sport, at times a blood sport, but always without great inspiration. It was with a certain schadenfreude that I watched the powerful tear themselves down and see what mere virtues remained. Yet this campaign has proved me wrong. I see in Barack and Joe the best of America remaining unscathed, because they refuse to bow to the blood sport and spoil the justification of their message. They stand uniquely equipped at this time in history to create dramatic shifts of hope and opportunity, nit for myself as much, but for the one who depends on me most.
For the sake of the most innocent, and thus the must vulnerable and the most often victimized, do what is right, America. Do what is the essence of our birthright, do what composes the blessings of truest liberty, and vote.
Vote with love, vote with compassion, vote with confidence, and vote with hope.
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